Production and treatment of bast fibers



w. F. B'oKuM ErAL f8 sheets-sheet 1 Filed ApriL 27, .19:59

Nov. 25, 1941.

PRODUCTION AND TfmfvrxvmNT oF BAsT FIBERS Nov. 25, 1941. w. RABOKUM Erm. 2,264,236

`P1:ODUG1:|ON AND TREATMENT OF BAST FBERS Filed April 27, 1959 8 Sheets-Sheet? I/N R PRODUCTION AND TREATMENT. OF BAST FIBERS Filed April 27, 1939 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Nov. 25, 1941. w. F. BOKUM ErAL PRODUCT'ION AND TREATMENT OF' BAST FIBERS Filed April 2'7v, 1939 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 Nov. 25, 1941. W- F, BOKU'M ETAL 2,264,236

PRODUCTION AND TREATMENT OF BAST FIBERS Filed4 April 27, 1939 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Nov. 25, 1941. w. F; BOKUM ETAL PRODUCTION AND TREATMENT OF BAST FIBERS Filed April 27, 1939 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 ...All

Nov. 25, 1941. w..F. BOKUM ETAL I 2,264,236

PRODUCTION AND TREATMENT OF BAST FIBERS Filed April 27, 1939 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 @El Q,

Nov. Z5,` 1941. w. F. BoKUM ETAL PRODUCTION AND TREATMENT F BAsT FIBER."

AFiled April 27, 1939 8 Sheets-Sheet 8` Patented Nov. 25 1941 PRODUCTION' AND TREATMENT 0F BAST FIBERS' William F. Bokum, Jenkintown, and John H. Senior, Philadelphia, Pa., assgnors to Proctor & Schwartz, Incorporated, Philadelphia, Pa.,L a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 27, 1939, serial Np. *270,420

` (ci. isi- 24) l 1 Claim. This invention relates to a process for treating raw lbrous vegetable 4matter to extract and renne the fiber content thereof for subsequent use as a textile stock capable of being formed into threads" etc., alone or mixedr with fother brousstock of the animal, vegetable, or mneralvarieties, or with synthetic laments.

The present invention more particularly relates to the extraction and refinement of what are known as bast fibers, i. e., i'lbers contained in the bark of various trees, such as the bark of the California redwood etc., or in the bark of other plants, such as found on the stems or reeds of ramie and kindred varieties of wil or cultivated vegetation.

In the case of the California redwood, the bark has been used for thermal insulation, sound dampening, and 'other purposes by breaking up or crushing the whole into small conglomerate masses composed of the fine bersmand the lignin which forms the' natural bindei'fiifr the nbers. Subsequenthandling or conditions of use cause the lignin to break down'into a ne powder, which is objectionable forn'riany reasons.- .The veryvpresence of the lignin lowers the value of the product as a thermal insulation and renders the bers useless as a textile stock.

Prior to the present invention it has been considered practically impossible to extract the nbers from the lignin, or vice versa, because of i their eiiiciency as a thermal insulation stock.

Furthermore, this natural curling of the iibers renders them suitable for mixing with other fibers having greater tensile strength, such for example; as wool bers. It has been found that the cleaned redwood fibers may be 'mixed with by long tedious hand processes; The cut reeds,

Vstalks or stems have been gatheredfand'bundied by Chinese peasants, etc. and placed in stagnant creeks, pools or rivers-for severalweeks, until natural disintegration of the components begins. This softens the bark to an extent underlying wood. The gatherers then work the bark by hand until the bers are substantially freel of the partially disintegrated lignin which binds the bers together. 'I'he nbers arethen laid out to dry and subsequently bunled for shiplment to industrial centers for further refining,

spinning, and weaving.

The object of the present invention is to provide a process for extracting and refining the bast bers of redwood, ramie,'and kindred vegetation from the raw state to nished stock suite able for the uses above noted and others which will eliminate the undesirable characteristics of the materials and the process by which the materials have heretofore been prepared for use.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figs. 1a, lb andY 1c combined, illustrate in a more or less diagrammatic manner, a side elevation of one form of apparatus capable of carrying out the process according to the principles of the present invention;

Figs. 2a, 2b, 2c combined, illustrate alongitudinal sectional elevation of oneportion of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1a and 1b;

Figs.. 3a and 3b combined illustrate a diagram- C -matic plan view of the apparatus of Figs. 1a,

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of two pairs of rolls used in the apparatus;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic sectional taken on the line 5 5, Fig. 1c;

plan view Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of4 va portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1c;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a slab of red-v wood bark prior to undergoing treatment according to the present process;

Fig.' 8 is a diagrammatic cross section or end view, greatly magnified, of the slab shown in F. 7; l

Fig. 9 illustrates a portion of theslab of Fig. 'l

after undergoing part of the present process;

Fig.` 10 is a cross section, greatly magnified, taken on the line Ill-l0, Fig. 9i l Fig. 11 is a view of the slab fragment of Fig. 9 after undergoing further steps of the process;

Fig. 12 is a cross section, greatly magnified, taken on the line I2-l2, Fig. 11;

Figs. 13a and 13b combined show another arrangement of apparatus capable of carrying the presentprocess:

Fig. 14 shows a sectional elevation of a por-v tion of the apparatus shown in Fig..13b;

wherein it may be manually peeled from the Fig. 15 shows a piece of ramie or similar stem prior to undergoing treatment according to the present process:

Figs. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 respectively show steps in the treatment of the stalk disclosed in Fig. 15.

In the case of redwood bark, the bark is firstr cut into boards of any desired measurements, such for example, as about one inch thick, or 12 inches Wide and 10 or 12 feet long, one of which ls illustrated at B in Fig. 7. The bark `is composed of long fibers F which are bound boards B vertically, first in one direction and -then in the opposite direction.

This vertical fiexing causes a partial breaking down of the flexed vertically in opposite directionsA alternately. However, while passing through the preliminary set 3, comparatively little of the lignin L is removed so that there is correspondingly little lateral fiexing. The lateral flexing starts to take place after the lignin has broken down to some appreciable extent. The lateral flexing is clearly illustrated in Figs. 3a and 3b.

In the preliminary set` 3 the boards B, due to the alternate vertical flexings and the pressure exerted by each pair of rolls I and 2, becomes more or less crushed, leaving the fibers F in. a stringy mass bound together by more or less relativelyspaced gobs of lignin which -have not as yet disintegrated. These gobs are shown at l in .Figures 9 and 10.

mass down firmly against the lower rolls 2, 2. The axes of the rolls I, I likewise assume sub-` stantially a horizontal single plane.

The lateral flexing becomes more pronounced in the working roll sets 4 and 5, which causes a further break down of the gobs l of lignin L, leaving the mass more or less flexible and permitting the fibers F to be vertically bent abruptly around the acute edges of the ribs and into the acute angles of the grooves of the cooperating pairs I-2 of f'luted rolls.

The fibers F are delivered .from the working rolls 5 onto an endless belt conveyer I2, which in turn delivers the fibers F to a series of softening roll pairs 1 and 8, shown in Fig. 1b. These rolls are of the spirally fluted type but are smaller in diameter than the rolls I-2 of the breaker I0. There is a relatively large number of roll pairs 1-8 in the softening set I3, which continue the vertical and lateral -flexings of the fibers, with the fibers being Worked by the acute edges and acute angles of the ribs and valleys between the ribs on the rolls 1 and 8. v

As` clearly shown in Fig. 3b, the working of the fiber mass thins the4 mass vertically and causes it to spread laterally, and more or less 75 opens up the bers so that the great majority of the powdered lignin is worked out of the mass. This, together with the acute bending of the fibers, causes the fibers to become relatively soft.

The last pair of softening rolls 1 and 8 deliver l cut the fibers into uniform staple length.

The cut fibers pass down an incline 20 onto a belt conveyer 2I. The conveyer 2|, as shown in Fig. 11b, passesalong and under the softening roll set I3 and picks up any short fibers that may have fallen from between the rolls 1 and 8, and also, as noted, receives the cut fibers from the chute 20. The conveyer 2I delivers the cut fibers to a willow 22, as shown in Figs. 1c and 5. The cut fibers are delivered to a drum 23 which is provided with radially extending blunt teeth 24. These blunt teeth lor studs cooperate with similar teeth or studs 25 on the receiving chute 26 of the willow. The cooperating teeth 24 and 25 tend to break up any matted lumps of the cut fibers.

The fibers are delivered by the drum 23 tothe periphery of a frusto-conical roll 21, which is also provided with blunt teeth or studs 28. The teeth or studs 28 on the drum 21 cooperate with fixed blunt teeth or studs 30 carried by the inside wall of the casing of the` Willow. This operation spreads out the fibers and releases any and all remaining loose lignin powder therefrom. The loose powdered lignin and other dust is drawn out of'the willow through a conduit 3| attached to a suitable evacuator, thereby thoroughly cleaning' the fibers.

The cleaned cut fibers pass or are blown, by centrifugal airforce created by rotation of the willow roll 21, through a conduit 32 to a receiving orstorage hopper 33, which is also provided With a dust evac'uator conduit 34. In the hopper 33 is a toothed feed apron 35 which lifts a layer of the fibers out` of the feed hopper. vA

rotary evener 36 spreads the fibers in a more or less even layer on the spiked apron 35 which delivers the fibers to a chute 34a, the fibers being stripped from the spikes of the apron 35 by a rotary stripper reel 31.n

The fibers, in more or less loose sheet form, are then delivered by the chute 36 to an endless belt 38, which feeds the sheet of loose fibers between a pair of feed rolls 39 and 40 of a shredding apparatus 4I, shown in Figs. 1c and 6. The feed rolls 39 and 40 are fiuted and pass the sheet outwardly therefrom into the path of a series of rotating shredding knives 42 which are carried on the periphery of a rotary drum 43.

The shredder 4I has the effect of combing out the cut fibers into more or less straight parallel relationship as they are advanced endwise by the rolls 39 and 40 into the path of the rotating knives 42. centuated by toothed working rolls 44, such as are found in a carding or agarnett machine.

The straightened fibers are delivered onto a platform 45 in the delivery end 46 of the shredder 4I,vpractically devoid of any lignin and in a soft condition suitable for use alone or for mixing with Wool or other fibrous stock to be made into yarn etc.

A currentof air created in the discharge conduit 41 by asuitable blower 48, draws the finished This straightening is further ac- 2,264,236 Afibers out of the discharge chamber as ef the shredder Il and delivers them, througha discharge conduit 49, to a stock mixingmachine, to

a baler, or to any other suitable place or apparatus for future use or further processing.

In thecase of ramie, a fragment of whichis shown in Fig. 15, the stalks R are laid endwise on an endless belt 50, se'e Fig. 13a, which delivers the stalks to a pair of feed rolls 'and 52 of a preliminary set 53 of cooperating pairs of spirally fluted breaker rolls 54-55 which are similar to `the fiuted rolls I and 2 or 1 and 8 previously less powder form during the passage of the stalks l' R through the setof preliminary rolls 53.

Strips S of the cambium bark composed of the fibers F bound together by lignin L, in the form substantially shown in Fig. 22, are delivered by the last pair of rolls 5I and 52 of the preliminary set 53 to a belt conveyer 56 which delivers the mass to and between a'pair of feed rolls 51 and 16, through the succeeding steps 'Ihe cutter I1 chops the fibers into uniform staple lengths.l These fibers are delivered by a belt 2|a to afstorage, receiving, or feeding hopper 33 of the same general character as previously described.

In this case the fibers entering the hopper 33 are subjected to a moistening by an atomizing spray 10. The apron delivers theiibers to an endless belt 33a, which in turn delivers the bers to a shredding unit 1I. In, this instance, the

shredding unitis in the form of a carding or garnett machine and includes main cylinders or swifts 12 and 13 providedl with the usual toothed clothing. The unit 1| also includes the usual as- 58 of a softening set59 composed of cooperating pairs of spirally uted rolls Eiland 6I.

' In the set 59, the fibers F held together by the lignin L are worked in substantially the same manner as the redwood bers to release the fibers from the lignin.- That is, the bers are worked between the acute edges ofthe ribs and the acute angles of the recesses of thespirally iluted rolls d@ and Si until substantially all of the lignin is powdered and the powder is worked out of the mass, as shown in Fig. 23.

The bers are delivered from the set 59 to a pair of rolls 62 and 63 which form the feedqrolls of a gill 64. The gill 64 is composedv of bars 65 from which project vertically extending pins 6B. The individual bars 65 travel in an upper horizontal plane from the rolls- 62 and 53, in the direction of the arrow a, toward a pair of rolls Gland 38 and then drop successively to a lower plane where they return in the direction of the arrow b to a position adjacent the rolls 62 and $3. Here the bars 65 are raised from the lower Aplane to the upper plane for a repeat of the cycle.

In raising the bars 65, the teeth 66 enter the mass of bers which are passing out from between the rolls 32 and 63. The bars 65 move in .the direction of the arrow a at a higher rate of speed than the peripherall speed of therolls 62 and 63, whereby a combing or gilling action takes place, which tends to straighten out the fibers in substantially parallel relationship. The rolls 91 and 68, move at a greater peripheral speed than the rolls 62 and 63 and the travel of the bars 65.

' Thus, the ibers as a group are pulled and held tautly between the two sets of rollsl duringl the gilling action, the individual `liberi-s being shorter .than the distance between the rollen-43. and

The rolls 61 and 68 deliver the gilled. fibers to an endless belt 69 as shown in Fig. 13a. 'Ihe belt I9 delivers` the fibers endwise to the feed rolls Il l'and I5 of a cutter unit I1, which is of the same character as the cutting unitpreviously described.n

semblage of toothed worker rolls 14 and toothed stripper rolls 15, thebers `being taken offl the first swift 12 and placed on the second swift 13 by a doier or vtransfer roll 16.l In this unit the fibers are combed out and laid parallel as in ordinary carding or garnetting. The straightened' fibers are taken oi the swift 13 by a doier-roll 11 from which the fibers are stripped by a stripper roll 18 located in a chamber 19.

The bers are evacuated from the chamber 19 through a conduit Bllplaced under suction by an evacuator 8| which draws air from the interior of a rotary perforated drum 82, leaving the fibers disposed on the outside of the drum 82 within a casing 83, as shown in Fig. 14. Suction through the perforations of th'e drum 82`is prevented in one segment of the circumference of the drum by an imperforate shoe. This releases the bers from the influence of the air currents and permits them to drop from the chamber y83 into a suitable baler 85.

In the case of the ramie the willow is eliminated ,f and what powdered lignin is mixed with the bers after they are delivered from the cutter l1,

`falls through the perforated platform 8S over which the fibers are dragged by the conveyer 2la, ithus the fibers are subjected to a cleaning which corresponds to the cleaning the 'redwood bers received in the willow 22.

In the case of the redwood bark, it is preferable to work it, according to the present invention,

while in its natural state, i. e.v while it retains its natural moisture content, without any artificial drying. In the case of ramie, itis preferable to work the stalks while in a dry state, subsequent to natural drying in the atmosphere or after articial drying to the desired degree.

We claim: The process -which consists in taking brous plants or longitudinal sections thereof vwhile in a natural state and without preliminary retting or other processing freeing the fibers thereof from a naturalv relatively solid compact growth formation composed of said flbers and matter extrane'- ous thereto by continuously bending said formation while in a relatively dry state with a moisture content not exceeding the natural moisture content ofthe plant with said bending being effected transversely to thel ber grain of the f ormationin opposite directions alternately in one plane and simultaneously in a plane at right angles to the rst said planeuntil at least a portion of said extraneousmatter is reduced to relatively ne particles and until substantially all of said matter including such particles falls from said fibers during said bendipgs without assistance 1n addition to said bendings, to prepare said bers for future use or further processing.

J OHN H. SENIOR.

WILLIAM r". BoKuM. 

